N.F.L. Roundup: Carson Palmer Gets Going With Raiders

But the Raiders’ offensive coordinator, Al Saunders, went on a Kansas City radio show Wednesday morning and said that Palmer would be his starting quarterback Sunday against the Chiefs “as long as he’s breathing.”

Palmer, 31, was breathing — hard — during his first post-practice media session Wednesday. In the span of about six minutes he admitted to rust, unfamiliarity with his receivers, unfamiliarity with the playbook, unfamiliarity with Oakland in general, a lack of game-ready football preparation and, most important, a dearth of time to get up to speed — whether or not he’s playing.

Palmer shook hands in the huddle as he introduced himself to his teammates and by his own estimation he still had not met more than 30 percent of the roster.

One thing working in his favor is a coach who knows him. Jackson recruited Palmer as an assistant at U.S.C., and, as the Bengals’ receivers coach, worked with him from 2004 to ’06.

SAMPLE-COLLECTION STALEMATE Nearly two months after it had hoped to start blood testing for human growth hormone, and several days after two congressmen announced there was a deal to begin collecting blood samples immediately, the N.F.L. and its players union remained at a standstill over the program Wednesday.

This week, the N.F.L. sent a letter to the union saying it was prepared to start collecting blood Monday that would be held until the final details of a testing plan were worked out. The union’s response was: No, not yet.

“We informed the N.F.L. yesterday that absent a collective agreement on several critical issues, blood collection is not ready to be implemented on Monday,” the union said in a statement Wednesday.

Adolpho Birch, the league executive who oversees the drug testing program, said, “It’s directly counter to what everyone in that room Friday heard.”

If the stalemate continues, the sides may have to again meet with members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Last Friday, Representatives Darrell Issa, Republican of California, and Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, told representatives of the union and the league that if blood collection had not begun within two weeks, they would be called back for a meeting that, the congressmen told them “would not be pretty,” according to two people who were present.

The proposal to begin the collection of blood —  but not to test it —  was the idea of Issa and Cummings. According to people present at the meeting, Issa went around the table asking if everybody agreed to that idea and everyone — including representatives from the union, which did not include the executive director DeMaurice Smith — did. When Issa said that he and Cummings were going to tell reporters that a deal had been reached to collect blood samples, nobody objected.

George Atallah, the union spokesman, said that the union perceived the N.F.L.’s letter as an announcement that it planned to impose testing, which prompted the union’s response. Birch said the league would not attempt to begin blood collection next week unless the union agreed.   JUDY BATTISTA

BRADFORD SITS OUT The newly acquired Brandon Lloyd looked good in his first practice with the St. Louis Rams. Mark Clayton’s back, too. Now they just need someone to get them the ball. Quarterback Sam Bradford did not practice Wednesday while getting treatment for a high left ankle sprain, increasing the likelihood the journeyman A. J. Feeley will get the call Sunday at Dallas. (AP)

TEBOW HELPING DOLPHINS Tim Tebow is giving the winless Miami Dolphins a welcome boost in ticket sales. Tebow will make his first start of the season Sunday when the Denver Broncos play at Miami, and the Dolphins’ chief executive, Mike Dee, said he was optimistic the game would be a sellout. More than 10,000 tickets have been sold since Tebow was promoted to the starting job last week, Dee said. (AP)

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS Houston quarterback Matt Schaub’s bruised chest won’t keep him out this week, but it’s likely that Andre Johnson will miss his third straight game since minor surgery to his right hamstring. (AP)

OWENS HEALTHY AGAIN Terrell Owens is ready to return to the N.F.L. Owens has been rehabilitating a left knee injury that required surgery. He is a free agent and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, says he will begin contacting teams immediately to let them know Owens is healthy. (AP)

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Pitt needs to keep momentum going

Pitt dominated USF last week. Now how do the Panthers keep their momentum?

That is the big question facing the team this week, as it prepares to play at Rutgers on Saturday. But the task is not so much about backing up what they did in a 44-17 win over the Bulls Thursday night. The challenge is about building on the success; realizing what can happen when the system in place is executed properly.

[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Keith SrakocicTino Sunseri's ability to run was one of the reasons why Pitt was able to dominate South Florida.Players gained a great deal of confidence last week, something that was missing after its two heartbreaking losses to Iowa and Notre Dame. Coach Todd Graham brought wildly different offensive and defensive schemes for his players to learn, and they faltered at understanding them.

But everything came together last week, and Pitt had its most complete performance. That in itself is a confidence booster moving forward.

"We're coming together," Graham said. "The guys are really committed to one another. We are a close-knit team and you had to face a little adversity for that to happen. When you face adversity you realize that at the end of the day you have to be arm-in-arm and to depend on each other. When you face great adversity like we did at the Iowa game and losing two close games then that helps.

"The thing we're facing is time. We're trying to develop relationships with this team but relationships and building a team takes time. We wanted it to happen early on so I think those two losses helped us. We have not faced the entire adversity we will this season, but this team has the makings of a championship team. It is going to be about us getting better every single day from me as a coach to the very last player to take the field. These guys are coming together and transforming."

Two of the starkest transformations from the USF game: the play of quarterback Tino Sunseri, and the overall performance of the defense. Sunseri executed more run options than he had all season, in part because he had to start believing he could be a runner and a passer. That is something he never had to do in the old offense.

"I felt I could only run if certain things opened up very clearly," Sunseri said.

He had to completely change his mind-set. He had 12 carries for 35 yards, and USF coach Skip Holtz said his designed runs "discombobulated" his team and caught his players off guard. Teams will be more prepared for that now that they have seen him do it.

But having that option makes Pitt much more difficult to prepare for because of what the Panthers have in Ray Graham. Talk about a workhorse. Graham has 126 carries and leads the team with 25 catches. If Sunseri can get the deep passing game going -- something Pitt has yet to do -- you will see an offense that can reach its full potential.

"We just have to keep on staying hungry, keep on learning, keep on going back to the film, learning as much as we can, trying to make sure we can get our mistakes fixed, and keep on trying to play as hard as we can for 60 minutes each and every week," Sunseri said.

As for the defense, the Panthers had surrendered a whopping 49 points in the fourth quarter in their first four games. Many of those came on big plays in the pass game. But they shut the Bulls out in the second half.

"We finally learned how to execute the fundamentals," defensive tackle Myles Caragein said.

Pitt is trying to get to 2-0 in the Big East for the seventh time since round-robin play in the conference began in 1993. The Panthers have won the last two games against Rutgers, but have dropped two of their last three games at Rutgers.

"Our philosophy is to stay in the left lane, put the hammer down and to try and get better each week," Graham said. "I have been pretty consistent in what my beliefs are in this team and the system we have in place. Our deal is we have to go out and face a unique and different challenge. Just like South Florida was very unique in what they did, Rutgers is very unique in what they do. The bottom line is if we execute this system, take care of the ball and play Pitt football the way we know how then were are going to be successful."

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Jets going back to ‘ground and pound’

NFL.com Staff | Tags: Shonn Greene, LaDainian Tomlinson, Mark Sanchez, New York Jets

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After Sunday night’s offensive debacle, Jets coach Rex Ryan plans on taking his offense back to the basics. So far this year, Gang Green has leaned heavily on Mark Sanchez, with the third-year quarterback throwing the ball an average of 36 times per game. As a result, Shonn Greene has seen fewer touches than many anticipated going into the season. Then again, Greene hasn’t done much to show that he is worthy of more carries. In four games, the former Iowa running back is averaging just 39.2 yards per game and has yet to top 60 yards in one game.

The good news for fantasy owners is that LaDainian Tomlinson has been equally unproductive on the ground, so there’s very little chance that he’ll start stealing Greene’s carries. Also encouraging is that the Jets face the Patriots woefully deficient defense next week. If there’s ever a chance for Greene to get himself untracked, it’s this week. Then again, if New York can’t get anything going this week, where Ryan decides to go for offensive production in the future is anyone’s guess.

– Marcas Grant

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Bears going orange for Sunday’s showdown against Packers

The Bears have decided they will wear their alternate orange jerseys Sunday against the Packers.

Also, the announcing crew for the NFC North clash between the Bears and Packers for 3:15 CT at Soldier has been set.

It’s going to be FOX’s top trio of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver.

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Saints Going Back to the Playoffs; Top Falcons 17-14

The Saints played for their proverbial lives Monday night. Offensively, they played very well, but defensively they were spectacular. When no one but themselves and their fans gave them a snowball’s chance in hades of winning this game, they marched into the Georgia Dome and took care of business.

The game started off rather uneventfully for Drew Brees and company as they went three-and-out. But the defense kept the Falcons in check as well and so it went until the Saints put together an impressive drive that ended with a 52-yard Garrett Hartley field goal. Next Falcons possession, the Saints caught a huge break when the Falcon’s center, Todd McClure mishandled the snap to Ryan and a blitzing Jonathan Vilma alertly fell on it. The Saints were very impressive after the turnover, particularly Pierre Thomas who rumbled through for a critical 16-yard run before walking 2 yards into the endzone for the game’s first TD giving his team a 10-0 lead.

The lead was short-lived, however, as the Falcons responed quickly with a 78-yard touchdown drive of their own. With 7:28 left in the first quarter, Matt Ryan hit Roddy White for a 7-yard touchdown pass to narrow the score to 10-7. The Saints made one more impressive drive after that, but were knocked out of scoring range by a couple of big defensive plays by the Falcons. The score was 10-7 at halftime.

In the second half, the Saints defense flexed its muscle in front of the national television audience and showed everyone that they are capable of playing some tough football too. On a penalty-ridden drive in which the Saints literally escorted the Falcons down the field, the goal line defense of New Orleans came up huge. Jeff Charleston hit Michael Turner on the goal line, forcing a fumble that was alertly recovered by Marvin Mitchell. The Saints failed to take advantage of the turnover that time though, even though they put together a few good series to move the ball down the field. Instead they ended up punting after using three minutes and some change off the clock.

The Saints defense kept Atlanta off their game to start the second half. The Falcons offense couldn’t seem to get anything going. It was a horribly ill-advised throw by Drew Brees that led to the Falcons only other touchdown when Chauncey Davis intercepted a little flip pass intended for Reggie Bush. Atlanta took its first lead 14-10. Brees subsequently threw his second interception of the night to John Abraham on the Saints very next possession. Worthy of noting though is the fact that Brees was the one who tackled Abraham and prevented him from running it all the way back. It was a great job by the Saints defense to keep Atlanta from capitalizing off the turnover.

The Saints offense drove the field almost effortlessly, capping the drive with a 25-yard touchdown reception from Brees to Colston. But once again, a penalty wiped it out when Jermon Bushrod was flagged for a false start. Talk about a momentum killer! The drive eventually stalled. Fortunately, the Saints defense came to play and was able to keep Atlanta from scoring.

The Saints final scoring drive was nothing short of brilliant. This time, Payton used a balanced offensive scheme that kept the Falcons defense off balance. For the first time all night, New Orleans weathered the blitzes leaving the Falcons looking confused. Brees hit Lance Moore for an 18-yard pickup to move the chains on 3rd and 11. Then Payton called a reverse run by Devery Henderson for 11 yards and another first down. Then the crafty skill and footwork of Pierre Thomas turned a short pass into a critical 22-yard gain! With 3:24 left in the game, Brees threw a strike to Jimmy Graham for a 6-yard touchdown. After marching 90 yards and chewing up more than 7 minutes off the clock, the Saints regained the lead and never looked back. The defense was able to hold the Falcons, forcing them to punt on 4th and 6 with 2:52 left in the game. The Saints subsequently picked up some key first downs and were able to just run the clock out.

This, the final Monday Night Football game of the 2010 season, certainly lived up to all the hype. With this victory, the Saints clinch a playoff berth for the second time in two years. There were so many impressive performances on offense, but I was so very proud of the defense. After being ridicluled last week because of the lack of defense against Baltimore, Gregg Williams had his guys ready to play and they rebounded nicely. Hopefully, they’re just getting warmed up for the playoffs.

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